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Because it has it all... Great cities like Chicago, NYC, SF, Miami etc. The US is blessed geographically with mountains, deserts, plains, volcanos. Goods are cheap compared to most countries. It is just a great place to live.

As we are humans, we are social creatures. It is impossible to address the questions of where best to live without taking into account inconvenient facts like your professional skills, language facility, options for the nuclear family, and extended family friends. Also, through no choice of our own, we are born into a set of cultural norms. So the starting point of any search starts necessarily with all that baggage.

For this American of middle age with mortgage that is being paid down and kids in or heading to college, whilst I fantasize about living elsewhere it is simply not practical. Were I twenty years younger and single with very portable skills, hmmm...I might follow a beautiful new love overseas or to another state, etc.

All that said, I have thirty please years of travel and exploration awaiting me here in the Inland NW alone. It is not easy to travel when your voice is but one of many and the seasons force your hand.

But I having done two stints on the East Coast already, I will stay home, in the West, where I belong...

Given the violent,divided sinking ship the u.s. is becoming,what are some livable equivalents around the world? I know Canada is one...

Every country has their little "political situations" just like the U.S, you just don't hear much about them because there isn't much international coverage in the U.S....

I have been to Winnipeg and Thunder Bay Canada and it was a very nice vibe, very peaceful... not as similar to America as everyone says, the cities have a different layout and its more quiet and peaceful in the downtown areas... Winnipeg was a very nice and diverse city, you will see people from all different parts of the world in the middle of the Canadian Prairies, its really beautiful..... they have some of the same problems as we do just not as extreme.

You can't just move there though, maybe you can go to school there? your best bet would be to move to a progressive U.S state.

I would not worry about violence but rather incessant constant lay offs across the board in the USA and the resultant wage reductions for all kinds of professions. Life for the middle class in the USA wont be tops anymore, if it even is now.

If I were to leave it would be for economic reasons and getting tired of being laid off.

The United States is ranked at 114 out of a possible 163 countries (in this list, lower ranks are 'better'). That implies that there are 113 more peaceful places in the world from which to choose a more peaceful life. That's a lot to choose from. Start to rank them by air quality and I'd say you're off to a great start to the rest of your [quality of] life!

2. AIR QUALITY

One of the most underrated criteria is health-related: air quality. The quality of the air that you breath has a big influence on your overall well-being. So, no matter how industrious, or modern, or beautiful a place may be, if the air quality reveals unhealthy conditions, I exclude such a place from my list.

Roughly 40% of people in the U.S. live in unhealthy air. Some have no idea how important a consideration this is. Others downplay it while they can (human nature, I suppose; we downplay a lot of things that are bad for us because they don't knock us down immediately). Ozone and particle pollution aren't just inconveniences that everyone should ignore; they're implicated in both pulmonary and cardiovascular disease.

I spoke with a representative from the American Lung Association about their data when I was considering my next relocation destination. I was told to avoid dwelling near busy roadways for obvious reasons of automotive exhaust concentrations. It's surprising to me how many apartment buildings are built within a quarter mile of major highways, even more surprising how many people choose to live in these places.

Another thing he told me is to consider wind patterns. He used the example of New York City, saying that some people will live in Connecticut but drive into the city for work, but that northerly coastal winds drive a lot of the city's pollution up into Connecticut, making for a somewhat counter-intuitively poorer air quality in parts of Connecticut than in the city itself.

Anyway, for a quick overview of the health effects of two kinds of air pollution -- ozone and particle pollution -- the American Lung Association's page is a good place to start:

If the air is relatively safe to breathe, and the quality of life is relatively peaceful, then the 3rd criteria important to me is how much I might enjoy being outside. The results of what kind of weather most people consider ideal are outlined on this page:

I prefer it a bit cooler than above, and I don't mind a bit of rain now and then.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I didn't bother mentioning crime rate or cost of living.

I think most people want to feel safe, but what that means to different people can vary widely. A retired cop in decent physical shape and with a concealed carry permit probably feels safe-enough in many places where an less fit, not combat-alert, non-carrying person would feel too frightened to be outside alone, or outside at all after dark.

As for cost of living, we're not going anywhere if we can't afford to live there so that seems self-evident enough for just a passing comment here.

Hope this helps!

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